Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton has begun a last-ditch attempt to save scores of combat jets as ministers prepare to make deep cuts in Britain’s air power, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.
In a private speech for MPs on Monday night, the RAF leadership challenged the Prime Minister’s criticism of “Cold War” fighter jets and questioned the decision to favour the Army in the Strategic Defence and Security Review.
Whitehall sources say the intervention may have come too late. At a meeting of the National Security Council yesterday, the Navy won its battle for two new aircraft carriers. With the Army facing only modest cuts, the RAF is now in line to bear the brunt.
Plans to order 138 new F35 Joint Strike Fighters are set to be cut to around 50 [emphasis added], and the RAF’s entire fleet of Tornadoes faces the axe after next week’s review. It would lead to the loss of RAF bases in Lossiemouth and Marham and of almost 5,000 personnel...
Amid growing fears for the RAF, several aspects of the Prime Minister’s analysis of future defence needs were rejected in the speech. Last week, Mr Cameron indicated the RAF would face deep cuts, saying: “We’ve got aeroplanes that are ready to do dog fights with the Soviet Union air force. That’s not right.”
But Air Marshal Anderson, one of the most senior commanders in the RAF, said: “High-end air capabilities are not synonymous with Cold War ‘white elephants’”.
In a strong defence of the RAF’s fleet of fast jets, his speech argued that the Quick Reaction Alert Force of Tornadoes and Typhoons was vital to national security “despite what amateur theorists might assert from their armchairs”.
“Without such an air defence capability, the UK would not be able to guarantee security of its sovereign air space and we would be unable to respond effectively to a 9/11-style terrorist attack from the air.”
Ministers have said that the Army should be shielded from the worst of the cuts while troops are in Afghanistan — Mr Cameron’s deadline for an Afghan withdrawal is 2015...
...as the defence review nears conclusion, substantial allowances have been made to the Navy, with much of the Fleet surviving significant cuts and the future of the two new aircraft carriers secured.
It is understood that the Navy will not suffer severe cuts to its surface fleet despite offering up to half of its warships to secure the carriers [emphasis added].
Ministers have indicated that one of Britain’s current fast jets, either Tornado – operated by the RAF – or Harrier – mostly operated by the Navy, faces immediate “deletion” in the defence review. The Navy’s successful defence of the £5.2billion carrier project has intensified RAF fears for the Tornado...
